From Gross to Great: An Island Home Makeover

There wasn’t much to love about the run-down beach cottage Vicky Patton and her husband, Henry, spotted while house-hunting on Tybee Island, GA, in 2012. The past-its-prime ’50s bungalow had concrete block walls, cracked cement floors, and zero personality. But Vicky, a former home economics teacher, saw potential in the two-bedroom, one-bath eyesore. “The layout was great,” she says. “Despite the size, I knew it could live large.”